Media content, including music, movies, television programming, video-on-demand and video games, is becoming increasingly accessible to the masses. Consumers can download or otherwise access media content from media sources, such as music or movies from ITUNES® or programming from a cable service provider. Distribution and/or accessability of the media content can be based on a number of factors, including popularity of the content and hardware constraints of the media source. For example, a television station often desires to provide programming that will attract the most viewers so that it can maintain its advertising revenue. As another example, a cable service provider often desires to provide access to a set of movies through video-on-demand that are most popular so that it can maintain its subscribers while reducing the cost of storing unpopular movies. These are examples of how new media is changing the way that the public interacts with content and creates a fragmentation for sources of obtaining content.
The media sources, as well as advertisers, businesses associated with the media content (e.g., retailers selling movie memorabilia, producers of the content itself) and other businesses, often desire to know the consumers' opinions regarding the media content so that they can manage their business accordingly. For example, a radio station often desires to know that a particular song is not well liked so that they can minimize or eliminate the song from their programming to avoid listeners tuning to a different station. As another example, an advertising agency or a business seeking advertising often desires an accurate assessment of whether a television program is being watched by a large amount of viewers so they can accurately assess the value of the advertising.
Contemporary methods of obtaining feedback with respect to media content, including evaluations and audience numbers, are limited, and can be costly and inaccurate. Focus groups are costly, and typically provide for review of large numbers of media content in a sterile environment. Callout research involves receiving a phone call over your home telephone, and evaluating a portion of a song immediately, regardless if it matches your taste/preference for that genre of music. These research methods can be flawed for a number of reasons, including the lack of natural environment for the review of the media content. Additionally, audience demographics are often based on sampling that may not accurately reflect the true audience due to a number of reasons, including the sample size or the sampling methodology.
A need therefore arises for effectively managing media content, and an apparatus and method for managing the media content. A further need arises for such an apparatus and method to include a record of audience preferences for likes and dislikes of the media content.